February 2, 1984

Norway ordered five Soviet diplomats expelled Wednesday and barred four others from reentering the country. The action came just 12 days after Arne Treholt, head of the Foreign Ministry's press section in Oslo, was arrested on charges of being a Soviet agent.

Mr. Treholt's arrest at first stunned NATO officials. Gen. Svere Hamre, Norway's former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Treholt could have rendered some NATO plans useless.

But alliance experts now say major NATO secrets were probably not jeopardized , Monitor contributor David Fouquet reports from Brussels. One source said that because Treholt had been suspected by Norwegian security since 1980, it is unlikely he was allowed access to very sensitive material, except as bait.